From childhood dream to travelling across 88 countries and counting

A good travel day for her starts early, with clear skies and strong light for photography (Photo: Deborah Tendo)

Author Deborah Auko Tendo’s travel journey started in childhood in a slum, where her world felt small and confined. With limited exposure to the outside world, she escaped through books, which took her to many places. Through authors such as Sidney Sheldon, Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, she experienced cities like London long before she travelled there in person. Sherlock Holmes, for example, introduced her to Baker Street, a place she later visited.

When she first travelled to England in 2016, Baker Street was her first stop, followed by Shakespeare’s birthplace and the Charles Dickens Museum.

Tendo has now visited 88 countries, informed first by books and later by history, culture and geopolitics. She also describes herself as a luxury traveller and travel writer, positioning herself within the high-end travel sector.

“I don’t do budget travel. I work too hard for that,” she says with a hearty laugh.

For her, luxury travel includes premium flights, five-star hotels, Michelin chefs, and high-end hospitality experiences.

“There is a market and niche in African luxury travel. People think that Africans travel cheaply, but that is not true. I do this because that is who I am, and it consequently challenges stereotypes about how Africans travel,” she says.

Planning a trip is one of her most exciting activities. She begins by reviewing countries she has already visited and avoids repeating them unless it is work-related. Then she selects new destinations with deep history, culture, and access to natural environments such as oceans or beaches.

She then looks up hotels and prioritises global luxury brands such as Hilton or Four Seasons since they ensure safety and great service.

“There are countries that have deep history but whose hotel industries are not developed. Some travellers like myself will not visit if there are no luxury brand hotels,” she says.

The planning continues. Flights are booked up to six months in advance, while itineraries are written three months before travel. She also plans activities, routes between cities, clothing, and research on cultural sites before departure. By the time she travels, she already knows the destination extensively and has written about it online.

A good travel day for her starts early, with clear skies and strong light for photography. She avoids staying in one place too long and prefers switching between cultural, historical, and coastal environments across cities in one country.

Even with constant movement, she maintains structured routines that involve going to the gym in the mornings, writing at night, visiting museums and libraries in every destination, and enjoying sunsets. She prefers walking through cities, especially historical ones such as Rome and Athens.

Walking vacations do not overwhelm her due to her fitness routines.

“I go to destinations that I look forward to; therefore, I get fired up to walk in a historical or cultural city. And after a week of travel, I leave. I don’t extend,” she says.

Every year, she sets aside a substantial amount in a budget for trips that include a women’s group trip and a family trip. A lover of travel, she advises that one needs to allocate a budget for it as they would for anything else.

Early flight bookings and loyalty programmes in hotels have strategically saved her money.

“If you use a particular airline and a hotel, maintain that and you will be a platinum member, which has its perks. I have travelled first class at discounted prices because of this,” she says.

Luxury travel has stretched her professional and social networks. She meets executives and influential figures in first-class cabins, sparking conversations about collaborations and opportunities. Her consistent choice of the Four Seasons hotel brand has given her influencing work with their properties in Miami, Cairo, and Bali, a significant milestone in her career.

When it comes to creating memories, she highlights Cairo as one of her most vivid experiences, especially the pyramids. Bali also stands out for its balance of culture, food, art, and beaches. She describes it as a place she could live in permanently.

She says travel costs vary depending on destination, with England as her most expensive experience, while destinations like Bali and the Seychelles vary in accommodation and travel costs.

However, not all experiences have gone according to plan. In Turkey, unreliable scheduling and domestic flight issues between cities affected a planned trip between Cappadocia and Antalya, and the entire trip.

Extended travel, she says, has changed her perspective on identity and belief systems. Being exposed to different cultures has challenged her beliefs and made her more tolerant of different ways of life.

“Travel has humbly made me unlearn a lot, like spirituality. Until you go to a pagan country and see them live completely different lives and thrive, you realise your beliefs are not the only ones,” she reflects.

Aside from work and family travels, Tendo joined a women’s travel group dubbed Zanzi Six. Her group travel journey began in 2018, when a woman celebrating her 40th birthday invited others on social media to join her. From that call, a group of women formed what is now known as Zanzi Six.

Group travel, she says, reveals personality differences, individual strengths, planning styles, and levels of adaptability.

“When faced with challenges during our trips, some people panic; others are calm. Some excel at planning or photography, while others prefer quiet reading and rest. You learn people in ways you never would in normal life,” she says.